Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
BLAKE
The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was the throbbing lump on the back of my skull. The second was the harsh cold of the concrete floor I was laying on seeping through my thin white long-sleeve T-shirt, chilling me from neck to ass.
The last and most alarming realization that hit me as I slowly pried my eyes open?
My magic, usually thrumming through my veins with a comforting warmth and intensity, felt muted and… chilly.
Someone fucking drugged me.
I groaned and pushed myself up to sitting with great effort.
I cast my groggy eyes around the little room I found myself in, and it was, unsurprisingly, some kind of jail cell.
The floor, walls, and ceiling appeared to be solid gray concrete—smooth and polished without any visible cracks or other wear—and there were no windows of any kind.
The exception was the wall directly in front of me, which consisted of thick metal prison bars.
Through the bars, I could make out the dim, narrow hallway leading to a set of concrete stairs.
This situation did not bode well for me.
I felt around in my pockets, but predictably my phone was gone. Whoever drugged and jailed me was at least courteous enough not to steal my grandfather’s Rolex from my wrist, so I could see it was a little after six o’clock at night.
The last thing I remembered was exiting the tattoo parlor where I’d been hanging out all afternoon as moral support for Clare while she got her first tattoo and made eyes at Lucia.
I remembered leaving around five o’clock to head to Marilynn’s, where I planned to eat, drink, and generally loiter until I could drag Mave to Ian’s for our big night of magical bond breaking under the full moon.
The last thing I remembered was walking through the lot behind the shop to my car and feeling a stinging pain in the side of my neck. Everything went black after that.
I could only assume someone had gotten the drop on me and stuck me with a sedative—and I could only think of one person in this swamp who could possibly have it out for me so bad he’d break several criminal laws and stash me in a dungeon.
On cue, I heard heavy footsteps stomping down the stairs at the end of the dingy hallway.
“Ah, boys, our guest is awake,” a gruff voice said as three hulking wolf shifters appeared before the bars of my cell. The one who spoke—the biggest guy, with a blonde crew cut and an impressive aura of power—stared me down with quiet intensity.
The man was Knox Monroe with brown eyes and twenty extra years on him.
Confirmed, then. I’m being held prisoner by the Pack Alpha, who gives zero fucks about human laws.
“Son, you seem to have found yourself in my Pack’s special dungeon,” he addressed me, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “Imagine the shock and, frankly, the disrespect I felt when I was informed I had not one but two thought-to-be-extinct mages lurking in my town.”
Son of a bitch, if they hurt Ian….
“Don’t know what you’re talking about, you crazy bastard,” I said icily from my position on the floor. “You get your kicks out of kidnapping teenagers? You running an operation to sell to the highest bidder?”
One of the lesser wolves who was clearly here as the muscle slapped his meaty fist against the bars of my cage.
“Easy, Dunn,” the Alpha said with a frosty smile at me. “The boy knows he’s caught—the lashing out is to be expected.”
To my immense relief, I felt the gentle warming sensation of my magic starting to creep back into my body. Whatever drug they’d used to knock me out was wearing off, and my powers appeared to be returning to full strength as it did.
“I’m guessing you’re Knox’s dad,” I said to the Alpha, figuring I might as well keep him talking. “Sweet dungeon, man… though you might want to do something about the wet dog smell down here.” Then I smirked like an asshole since apparently I had no sense of self-preservation.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re a cocky little shit. I should put you down just for daring to touch my son’s mate, but unfortunately we’ve decided to do this by the book.”
Oh good, whatever that means.
He took a step forward, his face now mere inches from the bars of my cell.
“When one of my betas came to me this morning with news that his daughter had seen a fellow Academy student perform some actual magic last night, I thought I was being pranked by someone with a death wish. But when I was told that this student had boasted that he could cast a spell that would break a fated mate bond between wolf shifters, I thought that perhaps this merited just a little bit more investigation. So I called the National Shifter Council.”
“Fuck.” I couldn’t stop myself from uttering that out loud. If there was anyone left keeping tabs on the mages, it would be the elders on that council.
“Indeed,” he grinned, pleased to have caught my slip indicating I wasn’t exactly clueless.
“I talked to a few worthless idiots at first, but they eventually got me to a very old councilman who had some interesting information for me. Apparently, the mage supernaturals are not as extinct as we all believe—a few of you have survived and hidden amongst the humans now for centuries. And as luck would have it, the Council is very interested in keeping this potential threat to shifter superiority… contained.”
“Really?” I replied, affecting a bored, disbelieving tone.
“You’re going to turn over a high school student to your National Council because a jealous girl claims she saw me do some magic tricks?
Because you’re butt-hurt that my girlfriend refuses to hop on your son’s dick when he snaps his fingers? ”
“I wouldn’t bring up the fact that you’ve been fucking my son’s mate, if I were you,” he growled at me. “I’ll stop feeling charitable enough to let the Council deal with you and just kill you myself.”
“Fucking bring it on, wolf man,” I laughed. “Let me out of here and challenge me like a real grown-up supernatural.”
He chuckled, and the assholes next to him followed suit.
“Nice try, kid. We don’t let people bring magic to a wolf fight.
Instead, you’re going to remain here in our special quarters for our most…
unsavory prisoners. Tomorrow, the Council is sending some representatives down here to collect you, and I’m going to let them because apparently there is a very generous reward for the capture of rogue supernaturals who may threaten our natural order. ”
“I just sent some of our boys over to pick up your uncle, too, so don’t think he’ll be riding to your rescue,” the big crazy-looking one called Dunn chimed in. “And we have someone sitting on your girlfriend to keep her away, too.”
Oh fuck no.
“If you assholes hurt a hair on either of their heads, I will go on a murderous rampage through this pack that will make the Old Wars look like fucking Sesame Street.”
We were well past the point of me playing dumb or denying what I truly was. I was either going to be stuck here waiting for God knows what from the Council, or I was going to be fighting my way out of here using every ability I had.
I felt for my magic, and it welcomed me back with its usual familiar warmth. I was almost back to normal.
“Tsk, nobody is hurting anybody,” the Alpha chided me with all the sincerity of a power-hungry psychopath.
“You and your uncle will be the Council’s problem, and of course I would never harm a hair on my son’s mate’s head.
He’ll be collecting her once you’re out of my hair—I’m thinking she should stay with us at the mansion for awhile so he can keep an eye on her, don’t you agree?
She tends not to behave and needs a firm hand. ”
My self-control finally snapping, I reached for what I could draw from my magic and threw a wave of fire straight at the cracks between the bars, intending to lash out and burn each of them.
Instead, as the fire approached the bars, it slammed into an invisible barricade and spread out along the inside of my cell, then ricocheted around to the side walls. I cursed as my best weapon against my kidnappers had only worked to create a massive inferno inside of my cage.
I waved my hand and released the magic, and the flames sputtered into nothing. I glared at the Alpha, who was wearing a feral smile.
“Fantastic,” he crowed. “I almost didn’t believe the Councilman when he’d told me that most packs had old, isolated dungeons leftover from the era of paranoia of a new supernatural war.
Turns out, our ancestors had these cells spelled and warded by indentured mages to keep a magic-wielding supernatural contained.
And here I thought this old place was just where the prior Alphas took special prisoners to hide their screams.”
Masking my surprise at this information, I casually placed my palms on the floor and felt for the old spells. I would’ve missed it if I hadn’t been looking for it, but the motherfucker was right. I could feel just the faint essence of an ancient ward surrounding the cell.
It would be slow going, but I had to try to unravel it before tomorrow. At least if they threw Ian in here with me, I knew we could get it figured out together.
Until then, I was done with the Alpha’s gloating.
“You think you’ve won this one, Mr. Monroe,” I said, pulling myself up to stand and look him straight in the eye.
I knew the fucker wasn’t used to anyone daring to hold eye contact with him for long.
“But I have bad news for you—you don’t know who you’re fucking with.
This cell won’t hold me for long, and once it breaks, I’m coming for you all for daring to harm the people I love. I hope you’re ready.”
He huffed out an amused laugh. “Like I said: a cocky little shit. Enjoy your stay in our special accommodations.”
With that, he turned and marched back up the stairs, his minions following dutifully behind him.
Hang on, Wolf Girl, I thought. We’ll fuck them up together as soon as I’m out of here.